2011 Oceania Zonal - Final

GM Zong Yuan Zhao completed a dominate performance in the 2011 Oceania Zonal with a final round win over IM Vladimir Feldman. Zhao finished with 8 wins and 1 draw (against Bobby Cheng). A point and a half behind in outright second was Andrew Brown, who defeated GM David Smerdon, and earning an IM title as well. Max Illingworth and Moulthun Ly tied for third on 6.5/9.

The final round of the Women's Zonal turned out to have more than a touch of drama, with both Irina Berezina-Feldman and Biljana Dekic only able to draw. With Emma Guo winning her game, Berezina-Feldman and Guo finished tied for first, with Dekic a half point behind. As a result, a play-off match between the two winners is to be organised in Australia at a later date.

Apart from success for the winners, there would be a number of people involved in junior chess in Canberra over the years who have reason the feel pleased as well. Of the 6 titles that could be earned at Zonal (IM,2xFM,WIM,2xWFM), 4 of those went to Canberra players. Andrew Brown becomes an IM, while Gareth Oliver earns an FM title. Emma Guo is now an WIM, while Megan Setiabudi picked up a WFM title after her 4th place finish. Moulthun Ly (FM) and Nicole Tsoi (WFM) were the other title recipients.

Full results can be found at the Canterbury Chess Club site (click on the Zonal link).